novelraw Chapter 89
Chapter 89
Chapter 89
*
If we're talking about the largest city in Marquis Makikomarclow's Border Territory, then Noljuen is undoubtedly the number one city under the Frontier Marquis.
It serves as the base for exporting the massive quantities of magic stones and monster materials produced in Hekatai to other territories and countries.
Even though there are two massive consumer cities just two days away by carriage, Marquis Makikomarclow seems to be managing things well—there's no gloom to be felt in the city.
Protected by two barriers—its city walls and a magical barrier—it's clearly a city near the Demonlands, but unlike Hekatai, the main players here are the merchants.
Even though it's already close to evening, the noisy voices of negotiations happening everywhere are loud but not unpleasant.
They drowned out the loneliness I felt from being apart from my party after so long.
As I had my magical energy drained for the entry fee, I began looking for a place to stay tonight.
*
Once I was alone, the fact that Erika wasn't here hit me hard.
I even felt a sense of despair at how accustomed I'd become to such luxury.
No, it was genuine despair.
From the start, I knew there was no hope of staying together forever—it was a one-year promise, after all. That calm, rational part of me tried to speak up.
But I wanted to tell him, "Your face is a mess of tears and snot."
I flailed around on the bed of a cheap inn, suppressing the urge to run back to Hekatai.
Calm down—just remember Erika's profile.
I took a deep breath and pictured Erika's face.
...Oh no, even the memory of her profile is already way too vivid.
I trembled at how even my memories had become indulgent, but once I pictured Erika's face, I fell asleep right away.
Erika really does solve everything.
*
Do you know what merchants and adventurers have in common?
The answer is that they both wake up early.
Surrounded by merchants and their bodyguard adventurers crowding the clearing before the west gate, I enjoyed my breakfast, soaking in the nostalgic atmosphere.
The sky, not yet fully lit by the sun, was dark blue, and the air remained serene despite the surrounding clamor.
It was a quiet, passionate time, like the moment before a great leap, when the body crouches low in preparation.
A time when adventurers smile at familiar faces and say—
"If we can meet again, let's meet again."
Adventurers don't accept farewells just because they have no choice.
In a world ruled by unreason and violence, partings are inevitable.
That's why adventurers don't say goodbye or pray for divine protection for the other.
They simply express, in their own code, the hope that they'll meet again.
In other words, this is the time when adventurers put their lives on the scale.
Maybe that's why I like it.
After a hearty breakfast, I spread out a map I copied from the Hekatai Adventurer's Guild in the clearing before the west gate.
It was a contingency plan I'd prepared even before confirming there were no designated targets more lucrative than the Forest Dragon at the guild.
If I wanted to prepare a ring worthy of Erika, then half-hearted money wouldn't cut it.
But the problem is, I'm the one doing the giving.
Because of my frugal nature, I had saved up money—but I left all of it with the Adventurer's Guild in Faltarl.
I considered running back at full speed to retrieve it, but the amount I left wasn't that much.
I didn't even know if there were any well-paying requests or designated targets, and the money I left in Faltarl wouldn't be enough anyway.
So the idea I came up with was—then why not just get the materials myself?
"Wait for me, Jewelhead."
I muttered that under my masked face.